2026-10-09 04:40:37Oscar Kingston yawned for what felt like the hundredth time that morning as he stared at the few things remaining in his apartment.
There wasn't much left. A small basin containing rice sat beside the old stove, and judging from what remained inside, Oscar had enough to last another couple of days if he was careful. His one out of three 25-liter water reservoir was already half empty too, which was becoming a serious problem. Half of 25 liters might have sounded like plenty to someone who had never experienced a shortage, but Oscar knew better. He hadn't showered in days. These days, even washing his face felt like wasting water. "At this rate, I'll probably start smelling like the garbage outside," Oscar muttered. He yawned again before picking up his phone. At least he still had this. The electricity had already gone off twice that morning, but thankfully his phone was still at thirty-seven percent. He opened the group chat he shared with the only two people he could still call his friends. GODWIN, CHISEL & OSCAR — 2053 SURVIVORS Oscar stared at the group name for a moment. "Chisel really needs to get a life." He typed. OscarSan: Anyone alive? Godwin replied first. YourGod1066: Barely. Oscar chuckled. OscarSan: You're always dramatic. YourGod1066: I'm serious, idiot. A few seconds passed before another message appeared. YourGod1066: I think I've lost another ten pounds. Oscar raised an eyebrow. OscarSan: Again? Godwin: Freaking yes. It's twenty pounds since the lockdown started. ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: Nobody believes you, fatty! Godwin had always been the fat one among them. Back in school, he could eat more than both Oscar and Chisel combined and still complain that he wasn't full. Now, nobody joked about food the way they used to. Not when food had become something they could barely find. YourGod1066: I'm serious. I was 146 pounds before this started but I'm barely 126 now. Oscar's smile slowly disappeared. Now, that wasn't funny anymore. OscarSan: And how's your family? YourGod1066: Not good. Oscar leaned back against the wall. He already knew what that meant. Godwin's family had once owned a meat market. When the famine first started, they had been better off than most people because they had meat stored away and enough customers willing to pay almost anything for food. For a while, Godwin had even joked that his family would be the last to starve. But the meat eventually ran out. Then the government stopped supplying food, water and medicine. Godwin's father was sick too when he left home months earlier to search for food and medicine and he never came back. OscarSan: Still nothing from your father? YourGod1066: Nothing. YourGod1066: No call, no message. Nothing bro. YourGod1066: My mother and sisters have been crying from hunger. I can't even fuss because as basically I'm the man of the house now. Oscar stared at the screen. His fingers stopped moving. He didn't know what to say. ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: At least you two still have internet. YourGod1066: What good is internet when there is no food? YourGod1066: I'm not that hungry though. Oscar: You just said your family was crying from hunger. YourGod1066: I can be hungry and still have standards. Oscar shook his head. "Idiots." Despite everything, they could still make him laugh. That was probably the only reason Oscar hadn't completely lost his mind. For a few seconds, the conversation returned to the kind of stupid jokes they used to make before the world went to hell. Then Chisel sent another message. ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: You know what really annoys me? OscarSan: What? ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: We're probably going to die before any of us gets married. Oscar snorted. OscarSan: You were planning to get married? ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: Obviously. YourGod1066: To whom? ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: Sakura. Oscar laughed. OscarSan: So you're planning a wedding with a woman who only exists in an anime? ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: Not just an anime, she exists in my imagination. Godwin sent a laughing emoji. Oscar looked at the screen with a faint smile. They had graduated from Sanctorian in 2052. Only a year ago, they had still believed life would turn out differently. They would find jobs, make money, meet women and get married. Godwin had always claimed he would be the first to settle down. Chisel had argued that no woman in her right mind would marry a man who spent half his time eating and the other half complaining about being hungry. Now, even marriage sounded ridiculous. Oscar on the other, used to have a girlfriend. ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: At least one of us has dated before. He dated for more than six years and even spent crazy money on her. I bet he doesn't regret it. Oscar's eyes narrowed. OscarSan: Shut up, Chisel! ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: Haha. As for Godwin, he's probably saving himself. YourGod1066: For what? ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: The apocalypse. Oscar laughed. Then he looked around the apartment and the laughter slowly faded. The apartment was almost empty. The television was gone. The couch was gone and his standing fan was gone too. Even the wooden chair beside the window had been sold three days ago. His wardrobe was gone too, leaving his clothes hanging from a nail in the wall. Oscar had sold almost everything he owned in exchange for food, yet now there wasn't much food left either. He rubbed his face. He was tired. He was especially tired of hearing government officials tell everyone to remain calm while ordinary people were slowly dying inside their homes. He picked up his phone again. OscarSan: You know what? ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: What? OscarSan: I think this is exactly what the government wants. YourGod1066: What are you talking about? OscarSan: They lock eighty-one percent of the population inside Resource Management zones. They stop us from freely buying food then the supplies become less and less reliable. OscarSan: Now medicine is disappearing too. OscarSan: What exactly are we supposed to do? Sit here and wait until we die? ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: It's not like there's anything we can do, Oscar San! YourGod1066: Unless, you have a plan? A faint smile danced on Oscar's lips. Three days ago, he had started digging the ground. He had torn up the tiles and used a shovel to break through the floor. Now there was a big hole on the ground. If the government had locked them inside the Resource Management zone then the roads were guarded and checkpoints were watched. But nobody had said anything about going underground. Oscar crouched beside the hole and looked down. "Let's see how far this goes." His phone suddenly vibrated. YourGod1066: Oscar? Oscar picked it up. OscarSan: I'm getting out of here. YourGod1066: Out where? ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: Don't tell me you're planning to fly. YourGod1066: Oscar, seriously. What are you doing? Instead of answering, Oscar turned on his camera. He crouched beside the hole and took a picture, then he sent it to them. YourGod1066: WHAT IS THAT?! ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: Oscar! ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: What the hell have you been doing? OscarSan: Digging, idiots. YourGod1066: WE CAN SEE THAT, SHERLOCK! YourGod1066: Why are you digging a hole in your apartment?! OscarSan: I'm escaping. ShadowSlaveChi$$$el: Through the ground? YourGod1066: Dude has finally lost your mind. I blame hunger and the government. Oscar chuckled. OscarSan: Maybe. Off to dig now, friends. He put his phone aside and climbed into the hole. He was going to continue digging until there's a way. There was barely enough room for him to move properly, but he didn't care. He adjusted his grip on the shovel and struck the dirt again. His arms were already aching. He had been doing this for three days, and the lack of enough food wasn't making things any easier. Every time he bent down, his stomach reminded him that he hadn't eaten enough, but Oscar ignored it. What choice did he have? Stay inside the apartment and wait for his rice to finish? Wait for the water to run out? Wait for the government to remember that people like him existed? No. Oscar wiped the sweat from his forehead and continued digging. "If I can get outside the zone, I might find something." He raised the shovel again. CLACK! Oscar froze. His hand remained in the air. "What? That didn't sound like the soil." He crouched down and brushed away the loose dirt with his fingers. "Maybe a pipe?" He dug around the spot and struck it again—CLACK! Oscar's eyes narrowed. Definitely not a pipe! He dropped the shovel and began digging with his hands. The soil was packed tightly around whatever was beneath it, forcing him to work slowly. Dirt gathered underneath his fingernails as he continued clearing the area. Then he saw something. A small dark edge with real gold. "What the—"
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Chapter 8: Is This God? (2)
The Anchor looked shocked as he spoke, “At this moment, we have reports concerning hundreds of government officials across nine states, including the capital who have been confirmed dead.”Oscar slowly looked toward the needle on his stool. A smile appeared on his face.Otto continued, “We are still trying to confirm exactly what is happening, but according to the information we have received, these officials suddenly fell in wherever they stood with blood on them like they were blasted by a very very big cannon ball."Oscar leaned back. “So it worked.”He had used the needle to pierce the officials, one by one. And it killed them.Otto looked into the camera, “Could this be God?”Oscar laughed.Otto continued, “Could this be a sign that God is finally answering the prayers of the people?”But he looked nervous as he spoke. “Or could this be something else? Could we have an invisible enemy inside our country? Could we have been invaded by something we cannot see? Aliens?”“Invaders i
Chapter 7: Is This God? (1)
The newsroom of UNC Dog News was unusually noisy.Anchor Otto Levi was sitting behind the news desk, looking at the large screen in front of him. The screen was showing the town square in the capital city, where a huge crater had suddenly appeared after President Yoka Temples' statue was pushed deep into the ground by something that nobody could see.The President himself was there.Several senators were standing around him, together with military commanders and other government officials. Everyone was staring at the enormous hole in the middle of the town square, trying to understand what had happened.Otto also wanted to understand it.But more than anything, he wanted to go home.He had a wife waiting for him at home, and she was already eight months pregnant. He also had two small children, his two-year-old daughter Maria and his four-year-old son, Otto Junior. There was also a helper staying with them whom Otto was trying his best to feed.Otto was one of the most well-known face
Chapter 6: First Act of God
Oscar had just sat down again when he heard the sound of his door being unlocked.His eyes immediately narrowed.For the past few weeks, nobody had visited him except when the government sent someone to deliver supplies. But those deliveries had stopped long ago. Now, whenever people came knocking, it usually meant they wanted something from the people who were already struggling to survive.Oscar clenched his fists under the table as the door opened.Two men walked inside.They were both wearing government uniforms, and unlike Oscar, who had become thin and lanky from weeks of eating less than he should, the two men were still big and well-built. Their faces showed no concern for the miserable state of the apartment.One of them looked at Oscar and said, “You’re Oscar Kingston?”“Yes.”The man nodded. “I'm Marcus. This is Ethan. Charlotte and Gideon reported that you owe them ten liters of water and two kilograms of rice.”Oscar stared at him.For a moment, he wondered if he had hear
Chapter 5: Charlotte Henshaw Wants Rice & 10 Litres of Water
At this moment, Oscar's phone suddenly rang.He was startled and immediately looked at the phone, his first thought being that the government had somehow discovered what was happening. Could they have already found out that he was connected to the strange incident in the capital? His hand reached for the phone quickly, but when he saw the name on the screen, his expression changed.“Charlotte?”The screen showed her name with several heart and kissing emojis beside it.Oscar stared at it for a moment.Charlotte was the girl he had loved before and even date for more than six years.Back when they were in free high school together, Oscar had always been the one doing things for her. He was an orphan, so he had to work odd jobs whenever he needed money, although he never had to worry about school fees because he had been a scholarship student. He was naturally smart, especially when it came to subjects like Geography, History, and Economics, but university was different. Because he s
Chapter 4: I Can Actually Be God
Oscar's pinky finger hovered over the miniature steel statue of President Yoka Temples. The miniature world looked so small that his pinky was almost as wide as the entire country.Curious, Oscar slowly pressed the statue of his dear president with his pinky finger."Let's see if this thing is real."He applied a little more pressure, and the steel statue suddenly bent.Oscar's eyes widened. "Huh?"He pressed again, and this time the statue broke apart before being pushed straight into the ground beneath it. The miniature street cracked around the statue, leaving a deep mark where his finger had pressed down.Oscar quickly pulled his pinky away and stared at it.He didn't feel any pain. In fact, he had barely felt anything at all. It was nothing more than a little tickle against his skin, which made sense considering how tiny the statue was compared to his smallest finger."That was supposed to be steel, right?" Oscar muttered while rubbing his pinky against his other hand.He looked
Chapter 3: A Small World, And Senator Kimberly?
Oscar was beginning to feel that his parents had deliberately made the thing difficult just to annoy whoever found it. "How did they even put something inside when there's no way to open it?""Fine. Sell it!"He stood up and went to get his phone. He pressed 1, 3 and 3. He was just about to dial it when he turned back to the heavy huge box only to notice a not-so-deep, small hole on one side of the box, close to the upper part, and unlike an ordinary round hole, its shape was slightly wider and curved at the top.Oscar leaned closer."Huh?"He stared at it for several seconds. Why was the shape of the hole like that? "It looks like the shape of my thumb."His thumb suddenly came to mind. "Wait a minute." Slowly, he walked towards the box and brought his left thumb toward the opening and carefully placed it inside.It fit.Oscar's eyes widened as he pushed his thumb a little farther. The fit was almost perfect, as if the hole had been made specifically for his thumb. He pulled it ou
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